Bit of non gardening help please????

[Nicos]

OK- as some of you know, we're renovating our house- and we're about to install a small cooking area.
The thing is, I'm not quite sure how high the work surface should be.

The one on our main kitchen is only 85cm tall
Our friend's is 92.5 ( which seems v high in comparison)
and our electrician has said 90cm
There will be a fridge going underneath so it'll need to be high enough to take that.

SO...my question to all you lovely, helpful Grapes is.....
Any chance to could get out your tape measures and measure your floor- top of work surface for me?????

That'd be really helpful- **thank you kindly nice peeps!

[Hazel at the Hill]

91.0 cm on mine.

Edit to add - I think that the height of your worktop will be governed by the undercounter appliances - I have an under counter fridge & freezer both of which are 85cm high, and they need a 30mm gap to under the work top (for ventilation).

[taff]

mines 90cm, I'm 5' 8" and it's comfortable for me.
you have to work out what's a comfortable height for you

[Jeanied]

One side of the kitchen is 91 cm high and the other is 90. I never noticed that!

[Patchninja]

My general worktops are 91 but where I have the gas hob it's 79 as I'm a short-arris - SO much easier to cook as I don't have my, erm, chesticles in the gas flames hahaha.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Standard height from floor to underside of work surface 90+ cm That is about the lowest you can go and still get a standard height appliance below it.

To set out level:- through your floor with a 3 or 4 ft level if you have one to establish the lowest point on the floors surface. Mark up a vertical line up the wall and measure 90 cm. Then using your level draw horizontal lines around the wall to estabish a level line for your worktops. Thats the reason people reported varying height levels when measuring from just the floor most floors arn't level.

One more point if you are going to tile the floor remember to take that thickness into account when applying your 90 cm measurement.

Hope this helps Colin

[Aberdeenplotter]

Ours is 87.5 cm to the underside of the worktop. Our washing machine is 86cm tall and the dishwasher 85cm. Both Bosch, funny innit,

[chris]

Pretty much 90cm here too!

[ginger ninger]

Mines 88cm to the underneath of the work tops. Cooker is a little lower which I'm glad about or I'd be doing a Mrs Doubt-fire with the pan lid's on mi boobies .

[zazen999]

Ours is 87.5 cm to the underside of the worktop. Our washing machine is 86cm tall and the dishwasher 85cm. Both Bosch, funny innit,

The casings should be standard - don't forget they all have little feet which can be moved that make the difference.

90cm is standard size for worktops and has been for years IIRC.

[Alison]

900mm here too although to be honest I'm thinking of putting them higher when we revamp the kitchen as I'm fed up with bending down and a friend of mine has higher ones and they're fab.

[Glutton4...]

I agree with Alison. Our worktops are 90cm at the top, and, although I'm only 5'4" I would still prefer them a little taller! A friend of mine revamped her kitchen on a budget a few years ago, and put new worktops straight on top of the old ones. It was a great success, and everyone commented on how much they preferred the higher working area.

[Potstubsdustbins]

The problem you face in lifting worktops is the legs on the bottom of the cabinets, the legs are fine but the way they are attached to the bottom of the cabinet can be well to put it nicely pants. Cabinets are usually made of some form of MDF so fixing screws break out of it very easily. That why most pro's keep the cabinets as low as possible to save stress on the legs.

Colin

[Nicos]

No cabinets here- we are making a frame from 2"x2" timbers- then installing Ikea shelving in between.
The front will be cloth fabric hanging down ( aka 16/17/18th Century peasant cottage kitchen! ..aka ...bespoke! )

[Potstubsdustbins]

Well thats one problem out the way. If you have the instructions for your fidge just check if it requires any air space above it, some due to give circulation for cooling air and that will give you an exact height. Then level would be good it can be a pain using a shallow pan when the contents are a 1/4" deep on one side and 3/4" on the other.

Colin